Ratings are based
on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Thundachu

Latios (Nintendo Promo)

Overview: IMO, this isn't a very good card unless you're playing
Rainbow deck. Latios' first attack, SuperPsy, does 10 damage for 1
psychic energy. Solid attack, not enough damage. Then the 2nd
attack, Freeze Dry, lets you flip a coin and if heads the
defending pokemon is paralyzed. 30 damage automaticly. The energy
cost is outrageous: 1 water, 1 psychic, and 1 lightning. Weakness
to Psychic is hard in Modified espeacilly with the current
Gardevoir craze. No resistance. Retreat of 3 is way too high for
any basic pokemon, though the 80HP is a nice touch, I still
wouldn't play it.

Draft: Sadly, the time when you can draft promo cards hasn't been
invented yet. We can always hope though. But when this time comes,
if you are able to draft this, don't play it. N/A

Patriarch

Sorry, Nintendo...I don't know who
said it: may it be one individual or everybody as a whole, but who
misses promos like the old mewtwo? Not to be TOO much of a
spike...it's just that the only fun or entertaining NEW promos
I've seen were the Groudon and Kyogre, but those are a tad clunky,
we'll say. How do these compare? Well, we'll just see, kiddos.

80 HP is pretty nice for a basic! However, the attacks are
seriously lacking. Super Psy (10 for P) is average, and Freeze Dry
(30 and tails-fails paralysis for WLP) is a bit tough. Lady Outing
COULD solve that, I suppose, but meh.

Unlimited (1.75/5): Argh, this thing could be eaten alive by
Sprout Tower, and all those other cards that don't like Colorless
pokes. Not to mention that its retreat is 3 =/

Modified (2.25/5): I don't see it working...at all. Any Psychic
will totally annihilate this dude! Regular Gardevoir has the beef
to OHKO it, as do Wobbuffet and Espeon, the last two are played
often enough for that to count.

Draft (hardee-harhar!/5): You can't draft this kiddie! That is,
unless some newbs ages and ages from now play a vintage draft,
thinking that this is from a set ;P.

Otaku

Name:
Latios

Set/Card#:
Nintendo Promo #015

Type:
Colorless

Stage:
Basic

HP:
80

Weakness:
Psychic

Resistance:
None

Retreat:
CCC

Attack#1:
(P)
Super Psy [10]

Attack#2:
(WPL) Freeze Dry [30]

Flip a
coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

Attributes:
It’s the only “plain” Latios out right now. It is a Basic, you
can drop it into play at anytime if you bench has room. It is
Colorless, which is pretty in good in Modified-no Resistance,
but now there is Weakness. In Unlimited, you see few Colorless
Weak Pokémon, and there are two cards that each can reduce
damage done by Colorless Pokémon by 30 (and they do stack, so it
can drop by 60)” Sprout Tower and Unown N. 80 HP is good for a
Basic. Weakness to Psychic is not in either format: Gardevoir
ex is considered to be top dog by many for Modified, and Mewtwo
ex has a good presence in both. There is no Resistance (grrrr…)
so I will move onto the retreat. It is three. This is not
happy-just high enough to cause problems more often than not.
Run this with an alternative means of benching it, or let it go
down swinging.

Abilities:
Super Psy is over-priced: pay for 15, get 10. I know they don’t
deviate from multiples of 10, but they could have made it a
Psyshock attack for (P) that did 10 with a 50% chance to
paralyze, and it would have been fair. Freeze dry is worse-you
pay for at least 40 and a chance to paralyze, but only get 30.
With needing three different energy types, get the 45 we’d
expect for three colored energy requirements and then maybe 10
more for being three different types… so 50 with paralysis would
be fair. So yeah, both attacks are over priced separately and
really bad together.

Uses/Combinations:
I guess you might consider it in Sceptile TecH-which usually
runs enough Rainbows that it can shuffle 3 onto Latios to pay
for its attack. 80 HP would make it easier to time a Pokémon
Nurse for it. Still, Zangoose is just 10 HP less, but only one
retreat, and has much better abilities.

Ratings

Unlimited:
1/5-Use a Jungle Lickitung or Kangaskhan over this.

Modified:
1.5/5-Just use Zangoose.

Limited:
2/5-If you could somehow draft it-3 color decks are not unheard
of, and it is a big basic with an over-priced but solid attack.

2-on-2:
1/5-Like Modified, but it dies faster.

Summary

You expect a
promo this bad in Yu-Gi-Oh, not Pokémon. You know, when you
bust open a prize back and get something like this instead of
(tries to think of Pokémon equivalent)… the possible DR
Charizard? Guess that was a bad analogy, but my pain is funny,
so I’ll leave it in. ;)

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